Hanasaku Iroha Episodes 18 + 19

I luv Mermaid Nako as much as the next guy, but......

Episode 18: 3/5 Stars (Meh)

Episode 19: 3/5 Stars (Meh)

Because I was so late with episode 18, I kinda had to merge both impressions into one post... Sorry for the wait guys....

Episode 18: Nako's Expectations and Self Reflections
Episode 19: School Festival Part 1

Okay let's be honest here... Hanasaku Iroha is getting worse by the episode... And I say this with many reasons:
1: Character development is surprisingly shallow and feels unimportant to the actual plot.
2: There seems to be a major plot, but its presence is waning... and waning fast.
3: Hanasaku Iroha is a 26 episode series and is gaining less momentum as the episodes go on, nothing really feels significant anymore.
4: The latest episodes have revealed significantly less drama which was the major trump card of the series' popularity (other than it's animation and art)
5: So on so forth....

Still luv Nako by the way.

These two episodes have finally persuaded me of P.A. Work's weakness: consistency in strong overarching plots... Mini arcs CAN be done well (CLANNAD Season 1 for example) but is much more prone to failure than it's polar opposite. This is because of it's filleristic properties that make the series feel terrifyingly shallow and unimportant.

Nako's episode really hit me as the most boring episode in the series so far... I liked how it was resolved, but in the end, what makes this "change" feel like an everlasting turnabout? I didn't see anything particularly crucial in the whole scheme of things and it just feels like something Nako could've found out without having to go through the troubles she went through...

Wait... What the f***? That's so cute!

The school festival episode was really depressing and teethgrinding... I could only feel helplessly upset at MInchi for her horrible social skills and the stupid plot device that causes these problems... "BUT I WANT OMURICE!!!!!!"Then go get some you stupid whore...

Anyways...  These episodes weren't particularly fantastic by any means... They were just the same old boring mini arcs that rid the story of its essential story and drama... I am not convinced that P.A. Works is going to achieve anything by making this series... But I'll hold on and wait till the end...

Hnnnng

Oh yeah and WHAT THE F*** WAS UP WITH THAT DREAM???? Ohana, did Ko-chan tell you he was gay?! What the hell?!

Again sorry for the late post...